


partners in lies

by clarakent (niewanyin)



Series: DickTim Week 2019 [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alpha Dick Grayson, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Omega Tim Drake, Secrets, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-19 03:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22104277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niewanyin/pseuds/clarakent
Summary: Dick gains the ability to read minds, and discovers a secret of Tim's that he agrees to keep to himself if Tim lets him help.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Dick Grayson
Series: DickTim Week 2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572028
Comments: 2
Kudos: 215
Collections: Dick Tim Week 2019





	partners in lies

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy!

Dick doesn't know why there was a need for a telepathy to ray exist. He doesn't know why someone thought this was something that needed to exist. Obviously, it was a mad scientist who thought that it would be a good idea, but Dick also didn't know why the man wanted to aim it at _Dick_ when he pressed the button. Unless he wanted to drive him mad, because if that was the case, then he did a pretty fucking good job! Dick can know hear _everyone's_ thoughts.

And it's amazing what people will think when they don't know someone is overhearing.

(It's either sex or Pokemon, and in some incredibly horrifying cases, both.)

Dick's head feels like it's going to explode as he moves as fast as he can back towards the Manor, and he hears the many, many thoughts of Gotham fling through his mind.

He literally collapses when he lands in the Cave, falling down and gripping his hair, screaming in pain.

Everything is so unbelievably loud.

Gasping breaths, leave him, echoing through the empty Cave. Finally he has peace from the loud world outside. He crawls to a pallet, his legs refusing to work, managing to push himself up through sheer determination. He curls up on it, closing his eyes and trying to let himself drift to sleep.

 _"Dick? Is he okay?"_ Bruce?

 _"Please let him be okay!?"_ Damian?

 _"What the hell happened?"_ Jason?

"Dick!" That's Tim, but he’s actually speaking and something registers inside Dick. His eyes fly open to see his family looking down at him. He forces himself to sit up, rubbing his head. The ache is better, but it's not gone.

His family's thoughts are there, all echoing in worry, but it's not as overwhelming as the outside world. He opens his mouth to tell them everything, but that's when he hears a loose thought from Tim that shuts him up instantly.

_"I gotta get this heat over with, but not until Dick’s okay."_

What fucking heat? Tim's a beta. Maybe it's someone else's heat? He's just helping them get through it? Yeah, that's certainly it.

Dick takes a deep breath, and then Tim's next thought takes the wind right out of him.

_"It's been two years, and it's already going to be hell. Just gotta be glad Bruce is letting me go for a month to Paris, even if he doesn't know why. Come on, Drake. Just make sure Dick is okay, and then you can cry into a pillow for a week because your body hates you and you can't do shit because of it."_

What. The. Fuck.

Dick stares at Tim, mouth open wide. Tim's an omega. And he's been hiding it. And he thinks there's something less to him because of this.

He closes his mouth. He's not going to tell his family shit until he gets to the bottom of this problem with Tim.

He lays back down and rubs his head. "Cursed to have a migraine," he whispers, which is partly the truth. He's actually not really lying about that one. "Can't get rid of it." He winces. "Just gotta sleep."

He hopes that worked. He doesn't think the radius of the telepathy is very far, because he had a blissful few moments from when he left downtown proper to when got to the Manor where everything in his mind was fairly blank, the thoughts of the city around a distant buzzing that he couldn't make out the words to.

He leverages himself off the pallet, almost falling face-first until Bruce grabs an arm and loops it around his neck. "Dick, are you sure you're okay?"

Dick's head feels like lead as he nods. "Yeah. Just sleep."

He opens his eyes to look at Tim.

Tim, who's been lying for years.

Tim, who's an omega.

It makes a fuckton of sense. Tim is short and slender and with delicate features, gorgeous with his black, silky hair and beautiful blue eyes. He's been thought to be an omega by people for years, but they've all shrugged it off, even though they could all see how much it bothered Tim.

And Dick is now realizing that it didn't bother Tim that he was always being mistaken for being an omega when he wasn't, but because those people had stumbled upon a truth that Tim didn't want to be realized.

And why the fuck not?

What have they ever done that has made Tim feel like he couldn't tell them he was an omega? They're surrounded by omegas in their vigilante life. Clark, Wally, Oliver, Hal, Kori, Garth, Kyle, and that's just scratching the surface. What exactly has made him convinced that he wouldn't be allowed to be a hero if they knew the truth?

He doesn't know, but he has to find out. More than anything in the world, he needs to know why Tim felt like the truth wasn't an option.

Bruce helps him to his room, leaving his brothers in the BatCave to take care of all their post-patrol needs. Dick stumbles and blinks, his head pounding. Jason, Tim, and Damian's thoughts quiet in his mind, but he can still hear Bruce's thoughts, a swirl of worry and fear over Dick and his migraine induced by a supervillain. The strong undercurrent of love in his thoughts, all about trying to make sure that Dick is safe and okay, catches in his throat and makes him want to cry.

He knows that Bruce loves him, but he's never _felt_ it. It's strange to feel the ripple through his body and mind, and Dick wants to hug Bruce tightly, whisper about how he knows, knows about his love and that he loves him back just as much.

He stops himself. It would look strange. And he can't tip anyone off about his powers until he talks to Tim and he finds out that particular truth.

But first?

It's Bruce helping him into his pajamas and then tucking him into bed like he's still a child, kissing his forehead and smoothing back his hair as Bruce prays _Lord, let him be okay_.

Little dramatic for a migraine, but Dick still falls asleep with a smile on his face.

*

He wakes up with his head feeling much better, and the low thoughts of his family members in his mind.

Even Tim.

He frowns, because why is Tim still here? Shouldn't he be in Paris? Going through his heat? Because it's been two years since he went through a heat and fuck, that's not good for an omega’s body. He slides out of his bed, and pads downstairs to where he hears their thoughts, trying to focus on Tim's to figure this out. His thoughts are threaded with worry and fear over his heat and Dick, and Tim trying to figure out when he can leave again to spend the time in his heat.

Dick just wants to hand him the keys to his apartment and tell him that he can stay as long as he likes.

He gets to the kitchen, stiffening at the worried looks he gets from his family, and gratefully taking the coffee that Alfred hands him. He takes a few gulps of the hot, black liquid, and only after he feels it hitting his bloodstream and letting him return to the land of the living does he look up.

He smiles at them.

They stare back.

"Dick, how are you feeling?" Bruce asks, putting down his newspaper and frowning. "You were in a lot of pain last night."

He didn't need to be reminded about that. He shrugs and turns to Tim. "Aren't you supposed to be in Paris?"

Tim blinks. "Bruce doesn't want me to go while you're unwell." _I don't know what I'm going to do about my heat._

"You can go!" Dick says, because Tim needs to go through his heat. When he does, Dick will figure out how to remove this telepathic curse and then he'll admit to Tim that he knows the truth, and he'll support him in whatever he wants to do. "It was just last night." He reaches next to him and grips Tim's hand. "You should go to Paris."

Tim frowns, his eyes tired and his bags having bags. _I need to go through my heat. I can't leave Gotham._

"Dick," Bruce says, his tone demanding. "I won't have you out in the field if you're not a hundred percent."

But he'll have Tim?

He shakes his head, his heart leaping into his throat because he doesn't want Tim to push back his heat even longer, but he can't tell Bruce that. "Bruce, I'm fine."

He actually doesn't know that. He knows there's a chance his head will start to burst the minute he gets out into Gotham proper. The worried hum of Bruce and Alfred's thoughts, the confusion in Jason and Damian's, and the fear in Tim's, about someone discovering his secret, about what will happen if he pushes his heat away far enough, it's all starting to pile up his mind and he doesn't know if he'll be able to handle this in the long run.

But he knows that he has to talk to Tim, because he knows that Tim will refuse to talk to anybody.

He sighs, and then stands up from the table. "Tim, when you get a chance, I want to go over a case with you." He knows that it'll get his attention, and sure enough, Tim blinks and then nods, grabbing a biscuit from the table and shoving it into his mouth. He follows after Dick, and to Dick's great relief, neither Jason or Bruce are getting up to follow them despite their curiosity and Damian doesn't despite his jealousy. 

"What do you need?" Tim asks, his mouth muffled with food.

Dick just walks to his room, closing the door tightly behind him and locking it for extra measure. "Dick?" Tim asks, confusion in his voice.

Dick takes a deep breath, his hands shaking as he turns around. "Tim, I know you're an omega," he whispers. Tim's face instantly pales as he backs into the room, his entire body starting to shake. "Last night. . . . Tim, I can read minds right now." A sharp, wet gasp is pulled from Tim, and Dick feels so guilty about it, but he knows that he has to continue. "Tim, two years? You gotta get through your heat. I'll help you leave Gotham for it!"

Tim shakes his head adamantly. "Dick, you can't do this to me," he whispers, stumbling back and sitting down hard on Dick's bed

Without his permission, frustration grows into Dick, frustration that he has to force himself to stamp down. "Tim, you can't do this to _yourself_."

Tim takes a deep breath, which finishes as a sob. "I don't have a choice."

"Why the fuck do you think that you don't have a choice?"

Another sob. "I _lied_. I lied to you and Bruce and Alfred and everyone else. No one's ever going to trust me again, and they _shouldn't_."

Dick lets out a frustrated sigh as he kneels in front of him. "Tim, this isn't the same thing. You're just . . . you're risking your own health right now, not lying to us about. . . . Actually, this is really fucking important. But no one wants you to keep hurting yourself just because you feel guilty that you didn't tell us that you were an omega years ago." He brushes a lock of hair out of Tim's face. "But . . . why didn't you tell us?"

Tim takes a breath, and refuses to look Dick in the eyes. "You met them once. You overheard what they said about Clark, about how they didn't like his expose on Luthor because he was just an omega and what did he really know? That was them being polite in front of company. " He takes another breath. "I presented before I was Robin, while they were away. I was able to hide it, and at the time . . . I just thought everyone was like that."

Dick has to stop himself from screaming at the ghosts of Jack and Janet Drake, because he knows exactly what they think about omegas. He remembers the bullshit they had spewed about Clark. He remembers how they acted like Clark shouldn't write a single word criticizing a "strong" alpha like Lex. He doesn't understand how two people could be so terrible that they would destroy their own son and prevent Tim from ever telling the truth.

"And when you realized that we weren't?" Dick asks breathlessly. "Please, Tim, just _tell_ me."

Tim bites his lips. "I don't remember exactly. I just realized that . . . I just realized that I could tell you. But it was too late."

Dick shakes his head. "Tim, it would never be too late. It's _still_ not too late."

Tim stares at his hands. "Can we discuss this later? I don't . . . I don't feel well."

Dick places his hand on Tim's. "You need to go through your heat." Tim opens his mouth. "You can hole up in my apartment, we'll invent reasons why people aren't seeing you for a few weeks. Okay? I won't tell anyone the truth, but after it's over? Tim, you at least have to take better care of yourself."

A pounding silence fills the room, broken by Tim's thoughts.

_I don't know. I'm scared. It's going to hurt-Dick, stop reading my thoughts!_

He feels something like a mental push and he blinks, because Tim's angry thoughts are whispering in his mind, but they aren't clear and he can't suppress a smile. "Sorry, Tim." His brother nods distractedly. "I don't _want_ to invade your privacy."

"You can't stop it?" Tim asks, rubbing his eyes and Dick's heart breaks as he thinks about the fact that Tim is crying over this.

Dick shakes his head. "I can't," he whispers out. Tim nods, and then takes a resolute breath.

"Alright, we can't tell Bruce because then he's going to want to know why you didn't tell him in the first place," Tim starts, and Dick can see the wheels turning in his head. He's in problem solving mode, and nothing's going to take him out of it. "So we're going to have to do this ourselves." He looks at Dick and his eyes narrow. "Walk me through exactly what happened."

"The usual story. Abandoned warehouse, mad scientist, plans to take over the world, accidentally was shot with ray gun, took him down, dragged him to the police station, head started killing me, and started to hear literally everyone in Gotham's thoughts."

"So people have to be close to you for it to work?" Dick nods. "No headache now?"

"There's one, but it's little. I can hear your thoughts, but everyone else is like a whisper and I can't really make it out, but still, too much. . . ."

"And it doesn't matter that you can't hear specific thoughts because it's like a roar."

He's so glad that he doesn't have to explain it to Tim, that he just understands it perfectly. "Yeah," he croaks out. "Yeah, that's exactly what it's like."

Tim stands up, almost knocking Dick out of the way, and then sways. Dick bites back the curse, and moves to steady him. He needs to go into heat.

This sure as shit isn't healthy for him.

"You need to go through your heat," he whispers, and Tim looks up at him with a glare.

“No, I need to-”

“Get through your heat so you can help me. Come on, Tim, use your brain. You know that the hormonal balance isn’t good.”

A minute, and then another of a glare, but then finally Tim sighs with exhaustion. “Might as well get this over with.”

It’s not much of a victory, but Dick will take it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm salazarastark on tumblr as well, so follow me [here](https://salazarastark.tumblr.com/)! I'm not as active as I'd like to be, but I'm always up for talking about my fics or anything else!


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